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May 15, 2006

Matt Gets Two New Babies this Summer

One conventional. The other with a new Intel Core Duo processor.

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May 14, 2006

"Largest Database Ever Assembled in the World"

This is getting out of hand. I knew there was widespread monitoring, but geez. Things must be really bad if USA Today is acting like a legit newspaper. I'm pretty frustrated to be under a Verizon contract now. How is it impeachment is not being seriously discussed? Bush's approval rating has now dropped below 30. Keep in mind that Clinton's approval rating never went below 59% throughout and after his impeachment proceedings. And check out this CNN poll comparing Dubya with Bubba.

Posted by mattalexander at 10:54 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 13, 2006

A Bunch of Children Left Behind

Wow. No state passed. Honestly, I'm surprised it is this bad. I thought NCLB was a way to funnel more money to rich schools and districts, but I think this is more indication of a broken education system that is going to take more than a bill with a catchy Orwellian name to fix. (And yes, I do still think NCLB is meant to funnel money to the rich and that it isn't the best way to improve education. It's gonna take more than threatening funding to right this ship, although I really don't know what. I confess I'm quite uninformed when it comes to education reform.)

Posted by mattalexander at 11:48 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

May 12, 2006

Good Riddance

The Hummmer H1 model will no longer be produced. If I never saw one of those monstrosities again it'd still be too soon. The GM spokesperson claimed the end of the H1 had nothing to do with energy costs. Either he's lying or a fool. (I'm guessing both.) Barely in the double digits in fuel economy, how can we keep these things legal? Ugh.

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May 10, 2006

An Inconvenient Truth

Amazing.

Thanks to David for the link.

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May 8, 2006

Radiohead

So, finally a post where I don't have an axe to grind. My favoritest band in the world, Radiohead, have been working on an album of late. This summer they'll tour Europe and a few US cities to test out the new material before deciding which songs make the final cut for the new album. Check out this pic for a list of possible new album tracks. I recently got my hands on unreleased versions of many of these song. I'm excited to hear some old favorites among B-sides and live stuff, including Follow Me Around, Nude, Lift, I Promise, and Big Boots, in addition to a new instant favorite, Arpeggi. If you're inerested, shoot me an email, and I'll try to get them to you.

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More Lies?

Okay, so this is not the most serious offense ever, but I still find it telling. When Bush was asked what the best moment of his presidency was, W said the time he caught a 7.5lb Perch. What's so wrong with that you ask? Well... the world record for the largest freshwater Perch is 4lb 3oz. Amazing! He nearly doubled the record on his private lake! Okay, so maybe it wasn't a Perch. We all know George isn't the best with reading. (Even though I'm sure there are pics of Perch available in those fishing books he's probably got!) So I'll let the lapse in fish species identification slide. What I find most telling is the comparison between his answer to the question next to those of the last two Democratic presidents. (Via Rubber Hose.)

to summarize:

carter: the camp david negotiations

clinton: the resolution of the kosovo crisis

bush: that time i caught a big fish on my ranch

Does that bother anyone else?

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Who Would've Guessed with Paul Wolfowitz in Charge?

The Lancet, the world's leading independent general medical journal, has an editorial entitled, "The World Bank: false financial and statistical accounts and medical malpractice in malaria treatment." A group of authors from across the the ideological spectrum point out how the World Bank is not only dropping the ball in doing its part to help to fight Malaria, it's earning corruption style points as it does it. Here's the intro:

The World Bank has an annual budget of US$20 billion, and is the largest organisation operating with a mission to reduce poverty worldwide. Malaria destroys about 1 million lives a year; the disease is the leading parasitic cause of death for Africa's children and impoverishment for their families. Here we examine how these factors meet in the new Global Strategy & Booster Program, which is the Bank's plan for controlling that disease in 2005–10.1

We believe this plan is inadequate to reverse the Bank's troubling history of neglect for malaria. In the past 5 years, the Bank has failed to uphold a pledge to increase funding for malaria control in Africa, has claimed success in its malaria programmes by promulgating false epidemiological statistics, and has approved clinically obsolete treatments for a potentially deadly form of malaria. Crucially, the Bank also downsized its malaria staff, so that it cannot swiftly execute the restoration it plans under the Global Strategy & Booster Program. We summarise the evidence, show that the Bank possesses demonstrably little expertise in malaria, and argue that the Bank should relinquish its funding to other agencies better placed to control the disease.

The entire article can be found here. (Free registration required.)

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May 6, 2006

Sudanese Government Invites UN Troops

This is more good news out of Darfur. The tenuous peace agreement really needs a capable peace-keeping force. It's good to see UN troops will be welcome in the region. This has been necessary for a long time given the African Union's troops' hands are tied. Hopefully the two smaller rebel factions will agree to the peace deal and everybody involved will stick to their word. Then the genocide really might stop. In spite of the troubled past in the region, I'm cautiously optimistic.

Posted by mattalexander at 12:20 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 5, 2006

Kaiser and Kidneys

This is sad news about Kaiser's implementation of a new kidney transplant center in NorCal, and how the botched move cost many dearly. This is exactly the type of problem that would disappear if we set up a single-payer insurance system. (Gasp! Single-payer! Isn't that communism?) As for me, I'm sick of this country paying more than enough to cover everbody yet leaving nearly 50 million uninsured and tens of millions more underinsured. And this discussion is happening nowhere in Washington why? Ugh.

Posted by mattalexander at 3:04 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Darfur and a Couple Links

This is wonderful news that a peace deal has been struck on Daruf. Let's all pray it sticks.

Also in the news today, CIA director Porter Goss resigned. As this post at Daily Kos aptly notes, "This isn't part of some White House shake-up. This is a scandal-plagued Bush appointee resigning just as an investigation into another Republican corruption scandal hits too close to home." This is a typical move of releasing bad news on a Friday afternoon. The press will likely put little effort into reporting why he's really resigning (connections to the Duke Cunningham bribe scheme), but that doesn't mean you should go uninformed. When politics have begun to play so heavily in the intelligence world, is it any wonder we get blunders like Iraq?

Finally, read here about how Wal-Mart is leading the way among big businesses to block the common-sense security move of enacting 100% screening of containers at the nation's ports. Gotta love the good old-fashioned big business free market family values Wal-Mart embodies.

Posted by mattalexander at 2:50 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Lies

Why does nobody in the mainstream media call this administration on its abundant lies? Here are a couple links on this. The first is Rummy getting questioned about lying about the intelligence on Iraq. The sparse coverage I saw of this implied some liberal heckler unreasonably hounded poor Donald. In fact, the questioner is CIA veteran Ray McGovern, no stranger to the prewar intel. I think what I find so sad about the video is the rude reception McGovern gets. At one point it sounds like they try to escort him away or take the microphone from him. What does that say of our society when so many seek to squash dissent rather than face its ugly truths? The other is a nice summary by Atrios about lies concerning the president's ability to speak Spanish. I was struck by this after talking to my dad the other day about Ari Fleischer. I told him I'd get sick of repeatedly lying for the administration, and he said that was my opinion. This is from Scott McLellan, but I'm sure you could find just as much from Fleischer. It's such a bold-faced lie, I have a hard time seeing how somebody could still think its mere opinion I think they lie to us. It's time to pay more attention.

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May 1, 2006

Colbert Roasts Bush

For those of you who haven't seen it yet, you must check out Stephen Colbert's words at the White House correspondents dinner over the weekend. The press has been nearly silent on this, which shouldn't be surprising given their muted response at the dinner. (One exception to the bunch of sourpusses--I thought Alito took the jokes about him like a good sport. Good for him.) Colbert must not be ignored for this act. He spoke truth to power in his hilarious way with W. sitting a few feet away. In addition to the cold reception by the audience, check out dubya's icy thanks at the end. Stevie's got some serious cajones, and it needs to be seen in spite of the MSM blackout. It hasn't been long, but many might not remember Don Imus had some scathing words about Clinton in a similar situation shortly after the Lewinski thing went down--the media was all over it. Where's the liberal bias? Anyway, see parts 1, 2, and 3, or check out the transcript here.

Posted by mattalexander at 11:14 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

A Day Without Immigrants

So how did it go in your area? Did you participate. I didn't go to classes today, although that isn't entirely related to today's activities. ; ) I did notice a couple businesses closed in our neighborhood, which I was pretty happy to see. I'm also curious to see what the reaction is in the media. I sure hope the Draconian parts of the House bill are stopped. On this topic, I think everybody should take the time to read Charlie's post. Here's to this country's Christians looking out for the least of these.

Posted by mattalexander at 11:09 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack